The lake water roared and gurgled, plastering onto the green bird like a clay creation. Every time the creature spread its wings, they would crash into the wall and regenerate before all of the water dropped back into the lake. Attacking at its wings would probably do no good.
"Who is that trapped in there?" Roy yelled over the deafening current of water. I stole another look at the sword that was separated from its wielder. The golden two-handed sword laid on the ground, wet from the presence of the green bird.
"It's Ike, and we need to save him now!"
I don't know if Roy heard me; at the same time, the bird shrieked and brought its wing down in a powerful swing. The wall of water crashed and shook the bridge in a brisk vertical motion. Roy and I rolled away in opposite directions. Although it was just water, when it snagged my foot, I was forced to the ground from the impact. I didn't want to know what would happen if I didn't dodge in time.
Sprinkles splashed at my face. My toga hung heavily on me from absorbing all of the water. The wetter we get, the more it was a disadvantage to us. I took my bag and toga off and tossed them aside for now.
"Oh that's a good idea." Roy laughed shortly. He had just enough time to take his armor and cape off before the green bird resumed its attack. The dark green pupils in its bulging eyes scattered all over the place but the wings never failed to miss us. If the bird doesn't rely on sight, maybe it uses its hearing or smell.
Either way, I had a crazy idea.
"Roy, can you distract it?" I asked. Roy stared at me for a second but then nodded. I think he agreed with my idea, since most of my most random ideas seemed to work for the better.
I squatted on the edge of the bridge with my wings folded down. The bird had somewhat of a pattern to its attacks. If its wing attacks missed, it spread its wings and squawked with irritation. I could fly into its neck where Ike is suspended inside and hopefully save him. I need to find the timing where the bird has its wings spread.
Roy clapped and waved his sword to get attention. The green bird snapped toward him with an elongated screech; it resembled how someone would say "ooh" when they find something interesting.
I dropped low while Roy kept the bird's attention. My toes grazed the water, but I achieved flight once my wings spread. Once I got closer to Ike, I saw that he was growing limp inside the bird. He still had his mouth tight but his legs began to twitch and stretch out.
With a snap of my wrist, the bow began to twirl off the palm of my hand. I remembered my lessons with Lucario and how I deflected his aura spheres with this. I was careful enough to not cut into Ike.
The bird screamed, trembling in pain. The new hole I made with the circling blades burst and blossomed like a new flower. It was gross, but I managed to gather myself to dig my way into the bird's stomach. I grabbed Ike's arm and noticed it was terribly cold.
He opened his eyes slightly. A heavy, gruesome feeling pounded my gut to see his eyes goggle around just like the bird. He was losing air fast.
I pulled his head gently so it would touch my chest. I felt the warm, white light disperse in the form of beams from my body. Ike twitched and gripped my shoulders strongly. It's working. In between all this, the monster's shrill scream gradually choked back into watery gasps and we slipped out of its body from the hole I made.
The two of us crashed into the lake. I think it was at least a fifteen-foot drop. My white light diminished away into fine particles of light and I realized I didn't finish the process with Ike.
I broke the surface. Ike went to gasp but he choked back the water he drank. He coughed violently, echoing through the entire room. I was afraid the bird would notice us soon but the creature itself was busy minding its injury.
"Thank you." He gasped. "Thank you. I'm glad you came…"
"No problem. Now let's get back up to the bridge." I checked our surroundings. There was the broken rope connected to the pulley but I didn't think Ike had the power to grab onto it yet. There was a boat on the other side of the lake, but that wouldn't help if the rope were broken.
"Ike, I'm going to have you rest on that boat for now, okay?" I suggested. It was better than just floating on the lake and slowly draining his energy away. Ike acquiesced but then his eyes took in a form of sudden surprise. "Behind you!"
The green bird's body was dissolved into the water, leaving a swimming head beating and wiggling through the surface toward us. Its disproportional eyes were locked onto me. Panicked, I swerved both of us to the right. The bird's beak grazed the back of my head as if someone got a spoon and scraped my scalp whilst holding me down. I grunted, and held my burning, somewhat itching injury.
I felt something warm. Blood. My hand trembled as my blood trickled off my palm and dissolved into the lake. The red danced and entwined with the green water. As I puffed a breath, prickly needles poked at my wound to mock me.
The bird head chortled. A long neck erected from the stump as the water around us swirled and plastered onto the bird. The boat I was hoping Ike could use chewed up into splinters and disappeared into the bird. I grabbed onto a nearby rocky wall but the pull was great. This was how the bird engulfed Ike.
I scowled. The hole I made earlier regenerated with the new body. The green bird squawked as it puffed out its chest proudly. It knew that we were going to let go sometime soon. And with both hands holding onto the wall for our dear life, I couldn't produce an arrow.
Somewhere above, Roy whistled. "Tweet tweet, over here!" The bird shrieked in response and the vortex's power died down by a fraction. I took this chance to help Ike up onto a nearby rock. There was a makeshift path, but it would take more than a while to get back up to the bridge.
To my surprise, I saw Roy hop off the bridge right into the bird's face. He took in an odd stance: he was leaning back, holding his sword in a conservative fashion like he was shielding himself. I would take a slash at the face but I couldn't take my eyes off the scene.
The bird didn't hesitate to thrust out with its open beak. But the second the two came in contact, time itself seem to take a breath. Roy received the beak and leaned forward, a flash of fire consuming them as he wildly and strongly cut into the bird's beak clean from the nostrils. The bird took in a confused expression before realizing its pain. Gurgling screams shook our footing and we had to hang on to the wall.
A stout hand extended out to me. Another one of my friends grinned a perfect smile and I had to greet back. "Thanks, Captain Falcon."
"No problem!" He replied and hoisted Ike up to the bridge. I wanted to ask how in the world he came here, but Roy's safety was my biggest concern.
He was still hanging onto the green bird's face. His body whipped around and the bird didn't cease to scream. Sooner or later, Roy was going to be smashed into the wall or fall into the lake.
Ike muttered something. I came closer and he said it a bit louder. "Aim… for the eyes."
"Good idea." I agreed and took my bow. Captain Falcon stopped me last minute.
"I'll help you finish him off. You aim for the eyes, and I'll go save Roy and give that bird a good Falcon Punch. What do you say?"
I nodded. "Sounds good."
I took flight. Honestly, aiming from the air was easier. Plus shooting was easier if the target was below me than above. I carefully made my target and the arrow sprung off from my arm, following a watery "splotch" sound. Green sticky substance oozed from the socket as the bird screamed even louder. The room not only shook; I felt like the room was a toy box and a toddler was shaking the box with all its might. Large black boulders cracked and crashed into the lake.
Captain Falcon took great leaps onto the bird and grabbed Roy by the waist. With no time to lose, he let Roy down back to the bridge and brought a fist up. Fire manifested his fist as he thrust out a strong punch that I received once before. That was not very fun.
"Falcon… Puuunch!"
The bird body shuddered with the impact of the massive punch, snorted and doubled back into the wall. Captain Falcon bounced back to the bridge with perfect execution and beamed proudly.
"The eyes were its weakness. They aren't regenerating." Ike breathed.
I laughed curtly. "I should've known if they were so big and bulging from its sockets…"
The bird looked miserable without its beak and right eye. It smacked its mouth together in a vain attempt to clatter its beak. The four of us had our undivided attention to the bird to see what it was going to do next. Should we finish it off? Or was it better to flee for Ike's sake?
"Oh no." Roy chuckled.
A wall of water towered over us. I saw Captain Falcon take Ike, so Roy and I dodged in the opposite direction. The metal creaked and some bolts popped out. I think some of them were important, seeing the bridge sway right to left every time of us moved significantly. We were soaked from head to toe with the green water. Some of the water went up my nose and it stung.
"You guys all right?" Captain Falcon called as he sat upright. "Boy, I remembered the time we went to one of those 'water parks' and I…"
I saw Captain Falcon pat the air next to him and I noticed. Ike was gone. My vision blackened for a second from standing up too fast. In the lake, I was in time to see Ike's hand quietly sink into the depths.
I didn't hesitate to dive in after him.
Roy called from behind me. "If you and Ike don't come back to the surface in five minutes, I'm coming after you!"
Swimming was not my best sport. I did take some lessons from Link and the wonderful time he had in the bottom of a lake, but it was still a difficult exercise for me.
I saw Ike's red cape rippling, smaller and smaller in the green world. The bottom of the lake was coming soon so I should be able to do a little tug of war with the green bird there.
His body hit the lake floor. Dirt blanketed the two of us for a short while until it settled. I couldn't see the bird, but I felt large talons wrapping around Ike's torso very tightly. His clothes wrinkled with the bird's grip. How could that bird still want Ike after suffering through an eye and its beak?
Ike reached out to me and grabbed my toga. I nodded to him.
But as I assembled myself to produce an arrow, Ike stood up with amazing speed that made me doubt that we were underwater. Precious bubbles exploded from my mouth as his hands wrapped around my head, digging his claws into the soft spot the bird's beak grazed earlier. I heard the bird chirrup with some joy.
His head was doused with black ink. Glowering, round red eyes became slits as he smirked from ear to ear. I noticed (between all the screaming going on because Ike's claws were digging into my head) the ink spread from his torso, where the bird's talons kept him captive.
More than fear, more than pain itself, anger filled up to my throat. There's another way to become a phantom? Battling and healing them is hard enough. I don't need more!
The bird squawked, and the phantom staggered back, temporarily wrapped in cyan light from the short arrow I shot into the torso. Before he could regain his stance, I gathered my light to form my regular arrow to aim at his forehead.
"Ah I was so close... too bad then." The phantom cackled. I let go of my right hand.
The two of us were shrouded in a bath of bubbles as the ink from Ike's torso and face peeled off from him. His knees buckled and slowly sank to lean on me. I didn't feel the talons around his body anymore, so I used the nearby wall to climb my way back to the surface.
My five minutes was up, apparently, because I saw Roy dive into the lake as I was climbing halfway to the surface. It was at this time that I noticed I was running out of air and my head was pounding in pain. I let Roy take care of Ike, and I kicked to the surface as my life did indeed, depend on it.
The second I broke the surface, I gasped and took in a lungful of air. My vision danced in black cracks from the sudden rush of air but I couldn't stop inhaling. "Ahhh, my head!" I groaned. Captain Falcon laughed from somewhere above me. "Haha, good job man." Captain Falcon lent me a hand again. I grinned and appreciatively took the hand. We helped Roy with carrying Ike up and by the time all four of us were back up to the bridge, we all collapsed and breathed heavily.
My arms shivered. I decided to lie face down. I couldn't support my body other than breathing. Even my wings were too heavy to hold up and they drooped down to the ground like a moth on a window.
"Some battle huh?" Captain Falcon chuckled. "I woke up to see Roy and that water monster. That was a good wake up call."
Roy told me that he found Captain Falcon's figurine on the side of the road. He figured another hand would come in handy and it absolutely was. I had a feeling I had to explain Captain Falcon the situation, but all I wanted to do was lie down.
Ike wasn't in good shape. He never was the talkative one, but still, he lied on his side quietly, his breathing shallow. His eyes seemed somewhat out of focus.
"Hey, um. Do that thing where you make the white light." Roy suggested. I was thinking the same thing. I didn't finish the process with Ike quite yet, and it was a healing light, it's a good chance.
Ike groaned in protest, but we made him sit upright. He depended heavily on me as his forehead pressed against my chest. I closed my eyes and concentrated. I heard Captain Falcon gasp in awe as the warm energy wrapped us in a soft white brilliance. During the process, I noticed Ike's clothes were drying as the cape rippled and shook off the water.
The light died down and Ike took in a slow, deep breath. He too, just like Lucario, radiated a warm energy and his skin seemed to glow a bit. Ike looked around, and then bowed vaguely to me. "Thank you."
"You feel better?" I asked. He nodded slowly.
"More than better, actually. I feel good. What was that light?"'
"Ah before all of the questions pour in, lets move out of this room. I really don't want a round two with that green bird." Roy said, eying the now quiet lake. We all muttered our agreements and decided to have our review session while walking.
Priscilla's gold chain watch told us the time was 8:23PM. Night was beginning to fall outside. Stars should be twinkling outside and we have yet to see them.
Author's Note: Ah finals are approaching soon. The second phantom is getting close to make his official appearance. Finally.